Churches and Church Records

As you are probably aware, Holland, Michigan, is home to many churches. Herrick Library has information on many local churches for genealogical and local history research. For those doing genealogical research, there are church records for some of the churches beginning in the mid 1800s, when the Dutch settlers moved to Holland. Some of these records are handwritten, some are typed, and some records are in the Dutch language.

In addition to Michigan records, Herrick also has many church records of the eastern states, most notably New York and New Jersey.  New York was settled by the Dutch in the 17th century and was originally named New Amsterdam.  In 1664 it was taken over by the English and renamed New York.  There are many Dutch Reformed church records for the New York area and some other historical church records for the eastern states also.  

Church Record Index

In addition to records, Herrick has historical information on many other Michigan churches, including directories, bulletins, histories, and more.  This information on Michigan churches is in the genealogy area, in a cabinet next to the Michigan Maps.   There is also information on local churches in our vertical files, also located in the Main Library's genealogy section. A good place to find out what is on our genealogy shelves on Michigan churches is Church Records by Area - Church Records by Area - Michigan.  There is also a list of Herrick's books of Church Records for other states

If you are doing genealogical research and are looking for church records for other geographic regions, a good website to check is www.familysearch.org. This website has church records online both in the United States and other countries.